Age of Adepts c1-1513

by Zhen De Lao Lang, 真的老狼

  It was important to note that Essences of Fire might be valuable, but one could always find them in those fire fields if they were patient enough. Moreover, Essences of Fire did not provide pure fire creatures like themselves with as much benefit as they did to outsiders.

  However, a fire dragon’s blood was completely different.

  The two might both be Second Grade fire materials. However, the scarcity of the latter made fire dragon’s blood much more valuable than the Essence of Fire in the Fire Elementium Plane. Thus, Mansur was still basically satisfied with the price that this human adept had offered him.

  The two individuals exchanged the goods on amicable terms and put away their ‘spoils’ with much satisfaction.

  Flame Giant Mansur suddenly reminded Greem before the flame halo dispersed, “You are that human adept from the World of Adepts, aren’t you? Be careful, little guy. There are quite a lot of people nearby who are looking for you. Remember to run faster once you leave the market. Of course, if you run into any trouble, you can seek shelter at my tribe. Remember, my tribe’s settlement is at…”

  Greem’s heart trembled.

  He had been constantly worried about falling into the enemy’s trap ever since entering the Fire Elementium Plane. However, that had only been conjectures of his own after all. He couldn’t verify the truth that there was a trap set up for him. However, the flame giant’s words were the first time Greem’s guess had been verified.

  The mission to assassinate the Fire Lord was indeed a conspiracy. If he directly went to the territory of that Fire Lord as per the agreement, what awaited him would be an entire army of blazing elementals.

  Greem sighed softly. He couldn’t help but be concerned for the latter half of his journey.

  Once the flame halo had dispersed, Flame Giant Mansur nodded at Greem. The giant then strode out of the fire market and sprinted toward his tribe’s settlement.

  Meanwhile, Greem was surrounded by a group of fire creatures that had been waiting the whole time. Among them were some of those fearsome Third Grade fire creatures.

  “Human, do you still have fire dragon’s blood in your possession?” An exceptionally large magma giant pushed aside the others and loudly asked.

  This magma giant had the power of a Third Grade. Red magma and rolling flames formed its entire body. It was ten meters tall, and the ground rang when it walked. Ordinary small creatures couldn’t even stand straight within twenty meters of it.

  “I still have one kilogram left!” Greem didn’t lie to this group of eager fire creatures.

  Fire creatures might have been violent, impulsive, and prone to fight at any time, but they had a certain stubbornness for obeying the rules of trade that outsiders couldn’t easily understand. Though they were extremely anxious, they would not interfere before they finished the deal. That was why the Third Grade magma giant had waited until the flame giant was done, despite being significantly more powerful.

  From this aspect, fire creatures seemed to emphasize the holy rules of trade much more than most intelligent beings. At the very least, one could not see any robbery or forced trades happening within this fire market.

  “One kilogram…very well, it’s a bit less than what I wanted, but it’s still enough for my purposes!” The magma giant grumbled in resignation, “Little guy, look at this thing. Do you need it?”

  The magma giant stuffed his large hand into his body and retrieved a two-meter-long fireplace poker from within.

  Greem looked at the object carefully, and the Chip very quickly determined its true nature based on the information it had gathered.

  Fire Coral Magma Staff!

  It was an elementium staff that could significantly enhance a fire caster’s offensive power. Due to its body being forged out of fire coral magma, its toughness was even superior to some heavy weapons. Using it to smash enemies during close quarters combat was not a bad choice.

  According to the Chip’s estimate, this fire coral magma staff could provide a 15-25% bonus to offensive power. That was already an excellent effect!

  Greem thought for a moment but shook his head in the end.

  The magma giant didn’t give up either. It chuckled and stuffed the staff back into his body. It then took out a handful of Second Grade fire cores. There seemed to be five of them.

  Greem shook his head even quicker this time.

  Second Grade crystal cores might be valuable, but he had all the time to collect them while he was in the Fire Elementium Plane. He didn’t need to exchange them for the precious fire dragon’s blood.

  The magma giant started to get more nervous as if knowing that it was almost hitting the bottom of his reserves.

  The third time, it took out a magma talisman from his chest.

  “Little guy, this is a magma talisman that has been etched with my soul aura. As long as you hold this talisman, you can summon my soul projection to fight for you. Each magma talisman can only summon a soul projection once. The projection will last for fifteen minutes, and its Strength will be approximately Beginner Third Grade. This…should be enough for all your remaining dragon blood, eh?”

  Greem’s eyes lit up as he shouted, “Two magma talismans! I want to exchange for two magma talismans!”

  The magma giant started to laugh, “Human adept, don’t be too greedy. Your dragon’s blood is a Second Grade material at best. Meanwhile, my magma talisman, that’s a Third Grade item.”

  Greem took out another jar without hesitation, “Two kilograms for two talismans. That’s fair now, isn’t it?!”

  The magma giant was stunned for a moment before breaking out into laughter, “You outsiders, always so sly and greedy! Very well, very well. Two it is then!”

  The magma giant took out a firestone from his body, shaped it into a talisman, and then blew a sliver of pure golden fire into the thing. A short moment later, a new magma talisman had been completed!

  Greem passed the two kilograms of fire dragon’s blood to the magma giant and took the two heavy magma talismans. He then had the Chip perform a quick scan of both of them.

  [Beep. Two strange soul brands discovered. Initial estimates suggest these to be soul projection equipment. Said talismans are 8.5 kilograms heavy, while the soul projections are 825 points strong. These talismans allow the summoning of a weakened magma giant to fight for you.

  Duration: 15 minutes.

  Soul Projection Grade: Beginner Third Grade.]

  A Third Grade item; this was an authentic Third Grade item!

  Though it was a one-use item and it only lasted for fifteen minutes, a Beginner Third Grade magma giant’s soul projection could help Greem with a lot of things. For instance– instantly crushing a certain annoying Fire Lord.

  After obtaining what he needed, the magma giant left the fire market.

  Greem could only regretfully explain to the remaining fire creatures that he had no more dragon’s blood left. Everyone only reluctantly scattered then.

  Just as Greem turned to leave the fire market, the flaming demon’s hoarse voice rang out by his ear.

  “Hey human adept, do you want to make a trade with me?”

  Greem stopped and slowly turned to stare at the abyssal demon clad in hot flames.

  “What can you give me? And what do you want to get out of me?”

  The flaming demon’s attitude was extremely enthusiastic, “Human adept, there’s no need to be so guarded. You should know that we all came to this rural place because we are looking for the rare fire materials here. It’s rare that I get to meet a friend from the World of Adepts here. Why not we take the opportunity to trade for what we each need?”

  Greem hesitated for a moment and finally dispersed the flames covering his face and revealed his true face. He proudly said, “Let’s officially get to know each other. I am Greem from the World of Adepts and the Clan Leader of the Zhentarim Crimson Clan!”

  The flaming demon chuckled, “I, Guard-Captain Kzoyde of Prince Gerobarrick, am at your service!”r />
  Chapter 773 - Underground Battle

  The conversation with Flaming Demon Kzoyde was extremely pleasant and casual!

  Once Greem’s silhouette vanished into the market, a sinister and chilling smile appeared on Kzyode’s wicked and fearsome face.

  “Sir, should we send people to follow him?”

  A faint human form appeared beside the flaming demon without a sound. The silhouette looked just like a one-meter-tall child, but its faint image gave off a sense of terror and sinisterness.

  Fireshade Assassin!

  It was a type of strange creature that was half-demon and half-elemental. It was a foreign mixed-blood creature that wasn’t acknowledged by the natives of the Fire Elementium Plane. They were often recruited as assassins by more powerful individuals due to their skill at stealth and assassination as well as their excellent work ethic.

  “No need! He’s a popular bounty target in the Fire Elementium Plane right now. We don’t need to get involved in the personal hunt of some stupid Lord; it’s just a bounty given out by a mere Second Grade Lord. It’s not worth enough to offend a Second Grade adept!”

  “Then we are not doing anything at all?”

  “No, that’s a terrible idea! We must still claim the bounty from the Lord. At any rate, there’s one-third of the reward we can get just by providing the location of that adept. We might as well take it. Go, hurry up and inform the Lord’s subordinate of the news of the human adept appearing in Gaba Market. Also, tell them we can provide them with a magical portrait of the human adept and see what price they are willing to pay! Hehehe, this kind of no-risk profit is what we should be going after. We are merchants after all.”

  Flaming Demon Kzoyde’s chilling laughter rang out in the market.

  The fireshade assassin shivered, quickly hid, and hurried on his assignment.

  Greem dove into the fire field once more after leaving the market.

  Greem immediately threw away the map of the Fire Elementium Plane that the flaming demon provided him with after recording all the information on it with his Chip. According to the Chip, the parchment contained a minimum of at least three very well-hidden ways for it to be located. If Greem carried the map with him, his whereabouts would be entirely within the hands of the enemy.

  This map was also relatively crude!

  Only a few approximate location names and geography had been marked on it.

  Of course, this also had to do with the more relaxed nature of the elementium creatures.

  They wandered the entire plane after their birth and hardly cared about where they were or what was around them. As such, they never felt the need to name these locations, let alone actively draw more detailed maps.

  As such, Greem only knew that the market he had just left was known as the Gaba Market and that it was a small public market. The remainder of the information on the map was far too vague.

  Seas of fire stretching for hundreds and thousands of kilometers could be seen almost everywhere within the Fire Elementium Plane. Nothing existed within these seas apart from fire and flames. In fact, most fire creatures could not survive within these seas for extended periods of time.

  It was only between the gaps of the fire seas that there was a chance for strange geographical land features to form. These lands, hills, plains, and volcanoes with fixated forms were where the fire creatures most commonly congregated.

  Many powerful fire tribes took over some areas where fire elementals gathered and treated the place as their home. Just like that, unorganized tribal territories were created.

  With the help of his mission planar coordinates and this crude map, Greem finally confirmed that his target lived in a particular area known as Dustfire Valley. That place was twenty-five thousand kilometers away from where he currently was. If he continued at his current pace, he would take a minimum of a month to arrive there.

  Moreover, various channels of information allowed Greem to sense that he had been trapped in a great storm. A massive, tight net seemed to have been prepared over the area and was waiting for him to enter.

  Greem had no choice but to slow down when faced with such a situation. He turned and walked in a different direction to find a more unpopulated area to digest those Essences of Fire.

  Given the vastness of the Fire Elementium Plane, Second Grade Fire Lords like Artes did not have the power needed to monitor and govern the tens of thousands of square kilometers that was his territory. In all honesty, Artes’ influence was a complete blank outside of Dustfire Valley.

  Trying to construct an information web with these scattered and unbound fire elemental subordinates was impossible. They were incapable of doing such fine and detailed work!

  Greem immediately washed away all of his tracks upon leaving Gaba Market by walking through the sea of fire. He then dove into a hidden place and concealed himself. Even if Artes were to send out all of his subordinates and dig away three feet of dirt from the ground, he still would not be able to find Greem.

  The formerly lively bounty hunting activity quickly cooled down with the main character missing from the play!

  …………

  World of Adepts, Fire Throne.

  At this moment, the Magma Hall was already filled with the private army of the nobles.

  These people who came from far away had brought plenty of craftsmen and servants with them. They used the forest’s endless lumber to create batches of siege weapons. Now they were using these siege weapons to slowly advance toward the tall tower in the center of the hall.

  However, their advance was extremely difficult, for there was an even more powerful magical machine army standing in their way.

  The battle between the two parties lasted for three days and nights.

  The attacking noble’s army sent large groups of cannon fodder at the enemy, all of them raising thick wooden shields over their heads and yelling battlecries as they slowly pushed toward the tower. Behind them were the heavy-infantry groups that the nobles had spent significant amounts of money to put together.

  These heavy infantry soldiers were all equipped with enchanted heavy armor that was two fingers thick. They were encased in so many layers of metal that they looked like walking cans, and barely any gaps could be seen in the fronts of their armor. Even their cylindrical helmets only had a cross-shaped slit over the face.

  As elite troops of the noble’s army, the heavy infantry was equipped with maces, flails, battleaxes, and other such weighty weapons. They formed rows of ten people and squeezed together. From a distance, they looked like a metal wall that could freely move in every direction.

  Behind them were a group of archers in crude leather armor. They had longbows and axes in hand. They were not the usual members of a noble’s private army; just hunters and mercenaries that had been temporarily hired.

  Supposedly, an army like this should be enough for them to slaughter most enemies. Unfortunately, when the opponent was not a human army, they became the ones who were slaughtered.

  Approximately a hundred three-meter-tall magical machines stood before the tower in a loose defensive line. They unleashed a metal barrage at the approaching noble army with violent magic-energy rifles.

  Over two dozen spider-shaped robotic golems were waiting at the very front of the formation. They were all five meters tall, and their spindle-shaped spider bodies, spider heads, and claws were all forged of complex alloy gleaming with magical light.

  Four pairs of black metallic legs were arranged along their torsos, the tips sharp as knives. When they climbed with their fast speed, their legs would leave tiny holes in the tough rock floor.

  These spider-shaped robotic golems mainly relied on a pair of giant claw-shaped chainsaws to attack. When they charged at wooden shields and rushed into the crowd with their metallic limbs, their massive chainsaws buzzed loudly. Blinding sparks flew everywhere as steel clashed with flesh.

  Regular human infantries were cut apart by these golems without any chance of resistanc
e, turning into mutilated corpses. The heavy infantry soldiers were able to survive for a bit longer. They could surround the golems and use their heavy weapons to smash the metal bodies with all they had.

  As long as they possessed sufficient strength and sturdy weapons, they still had a chance to shock and destroy the magical machinery within the bodies of the robotic golems, causing the machines to lose all combat ability.

  However, at this moment, the robotic golems shot out red flames from their spider heads. The density of the enemy and the lack of agility of heavy infantry caused the soldiers to die a horrible death. That sight of human bodies being roasted within those melting metal cans was a terrifying one to behold.

  The flames from the golems were all alchemical fires of over two thousand degrees. Even being grazed by this fire could turn you into burnt bones. The heavy infantry clothes ignited in the surging tides of flame. Even their metal armor had heated to a bright red.

  There were no servants to help them to take off the heated armor in this chaotic battlefield. These heavy infantries were boiled alive as they cried out in agony. Black smoke even came out from inside their armor.

  The nobles flushed a pale white at this desolate sight. All of them cast their gazes toward the adepts sitting comfortably at the very back.

  With the approval of the high-grade adepts, several official adepts walked toward the rampaging golems with many more apprentices behind them.

  The spells came in a storm as three dozen apprentice-level spells and three adept-level spells worked together to push over the robotic golems. The robotic golems might have been coated in a layer of magic-resistant metal, but this coat was unavoidably damaged in the battle earlier. It was only natural that they were defeated by the concentrated fire from the adepts and apprentices.

  Thick black smoke emerged from the bodies of the robotic golems amidst thunderous explosions. Their limbs went limp, and their massive metal bodies collapsed. With the intervention of the adepts, all of the golems had lost the ability to fight.